Save Yosemite Valley Campgrounds
- by: Brian Ouzounian, Yosemite Valley Campers Coalition
- recipient: Brian Ouzounian, Co-Founder, Yosemite Valley Campers Coalition
Help Save Yosemite Valley's North Pines Campground from closure, and restore the other Yosemite Valley campgrounds closed by the 2000 Yosemite Valley Plan
Before the 1997 flood, there were more than 800 family friendly auto-based campsites in Yosemite Valley. The Park's 2000 Yosemite Valley Plan permanently eliminated Upper River Campground, Lower River Campground, the Yosemite Valley Group Campground and a large portion of Lower Pines Campground.
The Plan also targets North Pines Campground for removal, which we feel must not go forward.
Final count: 500 campsites will remain resulting in a loss of more than 40% of camping opportunities in Yosemite Valley. Of the 500 sites, only 330 will be auto-based sites creating even fewer opportunities for young families, the disabled, and the elderly.
As part of the emergency flood appropriation, Congress gave the National Park Service funding to repair these campgrounds in Yosemite Valley--not to eliminate them. We oppose this arbitrary action by the National Park Service. We believe the NPS breached any public process in condemning the river damaged campsites and that none took place in their condemnation.
We request that Lower River, Upper River, and a portion of Lower Pines Campgrounds be reinstated with family friendly auto-based sites, as was the case pre-flood; we further request that North Pines Campground remain as currently used. This request complies with the vision of the Park's original General Management Plan.
After you sign, please go to our website below, where if you are interested you can sign up to get the newsletter at the link that says "Mailing List".
www.yosemitevalleycampers.org/
Before the 1997 flood, there were more than 800 family friendly auto-based campsites in Yosemite Valley. The Park's 2000 Yosemite Valley Plan permanently eliminated Upper River Campground, Lower River Campground, the Yosemite Valley Group Campground and a large portion of Lower Pines Campground.
The Plan also targets North Pines Campground for removal, which we feel must not go forward.
Final count: 500 campsites will remain resulting in a loss of more than 40% of camping opportunities in Yosemite Valley. Of the 500 sites, only 330 will be auto-based sites creating even fewer opportunities for young families, the disabled, and the elderly.
As part of the emergency flood appropriation, Congress gave the National Park Service funding to repair these campgrounds in Yosemite Valley--not to eliminate them. We oppose this arbitrary action by the National Park Service. We believe the NPS breached any public process in condemning the river damaged campsites and that none took place in their condemnation.
We request that Lower River, Upper River, and a portion of Lower Pines Campgrounds be reinstated with family friendly auto-based sites, as was the case pre-flood; we further request that North Pines Campground remain as currently used. This request complies with the vision of the Park's original General Management Plan.
After you sign, please go to our website below, where if you are interested you can sign up to get the newsletter at the link that says "Mailing List".
www.yosemitevalleycampers.org/
"Every rock in its walls seems to glow with life. Some lean back in majestic repose; others, absolutely sheer or nearly so for thousands of feet, advance beyond their companions in thoughtful attitudes."
John Muir (From his book "The Yosemite")
To truly appreciate Yosemite Valley, there is no better way than to camp. By eliminating two and a half entire campgrounds in recent years, Yosemite Park managers endear themselves to other, more profitable tourist markets.
The Yosemite National Park Service makes campers feel like intruders in a theme park, where the park's more desired tourist arrives on a tour bus from a hotel in San Francisco. They prefer visitors to reserve rooms in their soon to be remodeled "Lodge at Yosemite Falls", or their upscale Ahwahnee Hotel, where guests frequent the park's fashionable restaurants and other commercial services.
Camping in Yosemite Valley nurtures family relationships. The campfire has been equated to the proverbial psychologist's couch, for the repair and enrichment of family relationships. For generations Yosemite has been a place where families form symbiotic lifetime bonds. Many Yosemite campers have camped in Yosemite Valley for several generations and feel that this tradition should be continued for future generations of Americans.
Please put your signature on this petition and let the park managers know why you approve of the preservation of this low impact form of experiencing Yosemite Valley, and to ask them to bring back the campgrounds that they have removed (the lower half of Lower Pines Campground, Upper and Lower River Campgrounds) and to stop removing others; specifically the North Pines campground.
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